Shop My Outfit:
A visit to Kensington Palace: is it worth it? Ever since I was a little girl, I have been fascinated with the royal family and royal weddings. Even to this day, I still love keeping up with them. I will never forget when I heard the tragic news of Princess Diana’s death. I was at my grandparent’s lake house, sitting on the couch catty corner to the TV, and I remember seeing the news out of the corner of my eye on the TV. I was only 8 or so, but it definitely is something that impacted me. I even had the “rare” (which was not really rare) Princess Diana Beanie Baby. If you’re a 90s kid like me, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
When planning our London trip, Kensington Palace was a must-do for us. Although I’m not a huge history buff, I do love anything royal. When booking our hotel, we even made sure to stay close to Kensington Palace. When I planned the trip, I knew I wanted to at least walk the grounds. Luckily we had extra time, so we decided to do a self-guided tour. Kensington Palace houses the Orangery Tea Room, which came highly recommended. I also knew I wanted to do an afternoon tea in London, so as soon as we checked into our hotel, the concierge helped us book a reservation.
Prices:If you book online you save 10% off. We did not book online due to not knowing what our schedule would be like. Please note, there are two price options: one with a donation and one without.
- Adults: 17.50 pounds without a donation or 19.30 pounds with
- Child: 8.70 pounds without a donation or 9.60 with
What to Wear to Visit the Palace:
When visiting the palace, I wanted to wear something conservative and proper. I also knew we had several other stops on our agenda for the day, so I wanted to wear something practical/comfortable. This preppy collar dress screamed London to me, so I had to order it. I paired it with this preppy Kate Spade cardigan, since it was chilly in London. I originally started with heel booties, but luckily I did bring some tennis shoes in a bag. Before touring the palace, there is a spot where you can check extra bags. I checked the bag with my booties and we were off to tour. There is a lot of walking involved, so I highly recommend comfortable shoes.
About Kensington Palace:
Kensington Palace is the birthplace of Queen Victoria and has been home to young royals for over 300 years. The beautiful grounds feature the Kensington Garden and a memorial playground for Princess Diana. The garden area was under construction, since it’s not quite spring in London yet. It still was beautiful though.
About the Tour:
Wallpaper by the bathroom
King’s Apartment
Queen’s Apartment
When you take a self-guided tour, you’re able to see the king’s state apartment and the queen’s state apartment, beautiful royal jewels, and even one of Princess Diana’s gowns. Even the ceilings were gorgeous. We almost missed the jewels and I am glad we didn’t. It was the best part in my opinion. You can also see costumes from the recent film “The Favourite”. I did research and found out that, while it was not filmed at Kensington Palace, several of the scenes are supposed to be set in actual rooms you can see at Kensington. I actually watched this film on the flight home and it was excellent. If you like anything related to the royal family, it’s a must watch.
How Long Should You Spend There?
The website says that most people spend about 90 minutes there. I would say to go through the exhibits you need about an hour to fully enjoy it and not feel rushed. We probably spent 2.5 hours on the palace grounds, including brunch.
Tea at The Orangery:
We started our visit to Kensington Palace with tea at The Orangery. I didn’t realize this until I wrote this post, but the Orangery was built for Anne, who became queen when William died. Anne used The Orangery for parties and entertaining. The Orangery is on the palace grounds, just a short walk from the entrance to tour the main palace. I don’t know if reservations are required, but I highly recommend getting one. Our reservation was at 11:00 a.m., so it wasn’t crowded, but I feel like it’s probably crowded a little later. When you visit London, you must try tea. Jake and I had actually just had a latte and snack, so I wasn’t that hungry. I did the children’s tea and it was the perfect size while only being about half the price of the adult portion. It came with tea of course, tea sandwiches, and little desserts. Jake, on the other hand, refused to try tea (he hates tea), so he ordered a Pepsi and regular brunch food. His food was especially excellent; he had a ham and cheese croissant, as well as scrambled eggs with maple syrup-covered bacon. The Orangery is under construction right now, but it didn’t detract from the experience. On the day we visited, the winds were insane, blowing about 25 mph at least and you could see/hear the temporary roof blowing, but it was comfortable inside and didn’t affect anything.
To answer my first question: is it worth it? I absolutely do think it’s worth it. When we go back to London someday, I probably won’t tour it again, but I would definitely visit the grounds and go back for tea. I did notice in London that a lot of the major attraction and palaces are close to each other. Stay tuned, on Thursday I will share part 3 of my London Diaries blog series. This will be my final London Diaries series post, and I will share a full London guide post soon after that.
The Orangery was my favorite thing in London, I can’t wait to go back with my mom. We already have tickets to tour Kensington Palace (I didn’t do that last time) and am so excited!
P.S. I had the extremely rare Princess Diana beanie baby, too 😉
Author
The Orangery was amazing! I was so glad that our hotel helped us get a reservation. It wasn’t showing any online. Ahhh so fun. You’ll love it. hahaha so rare 😉
Ahh I’m having so many flashbacks! This was one of my favorite things I did in London–so memorable. I even brought back some “royal” tea as a souvenir! You look absolutely perfect for the palace too! Love that cardigan.
Katherine | http://www.oneswainkycouple.com
Author
I am so glad that you got to visit Kensington when you went. It really was one of the most memorable things we did. YOu are so sweet. I wanted to blend in with the English ladies.
Your outfit is SO cute.I need that cardigan. That is so interesting that the rooms from the Favourite are meant to look like the palace! I actually just watched “The Favourite” on my flight home too! It is a really good movie. And now I want to visit Kensington Palace even more. I love your photos! And these are such great tips for visiting.
Author
Aw thank you, Lindsey! This cardigan would be darling on you. I can totally see you wearing it. It really is a neat movie. I enjoyed it. You will have to visit someday. I think you would love London.
I still have my Princess Diana beanie baby!! I watched The Favourite a few weeks ago. I thought it was…interesting. I’d love to visit Kensington.
Jennifer
Effortlessly Sophisticated
Author
Ahh love it! That was my favorite beanie baby. The Favourite was sooo good. You’ll have to visit someday. It’s gorgeous.
This is a bucket list place of mine! I want to visit all the pretty castles over in the U.K. Looks so fun
Author
It was amazing! You will have to go someday.
Thanks for sharing beautiful pictures .I would love to visit Kensington Palace
Author
Thank you for reading. It was such a great experience.
I guess it was a dream come true to visit Kensington palace for you Courtney. It was a tragic day when Princess Diana passed away, such an amazing and compassionate lady. Your dress with the delicate houndstooth pattern is gorgeous. I love the collar and the hemming. the cardigan goes so well with it. Tights were a great idea also in the british weather despite the sunshine! Fabulous pics of the palace and look at those Jewels! I can see how you could spend 2.5 hours there. I am a tea drinker Courtney! Irish people grow up on tea from young ages , similar to the British. The orangery looks so nice and has great natural lighting . No tea Jake? I guess when you don’t grow up with it a pepsi will do! Thanks for sharing Courtney . (check out my latest post for a little surprise you will appreciate, where we went on our trip!) Have a great day, Terri xo.
Author
It really was a dream for me. It really was such a tragic day when Princess Diana passed away. She was a great lady. Aww thank you. Yes, it was a bit chilly so tights were necessary. I noticed a lot of British ladies in tights and dresses too.Yes, it was easy to spent time there. I love tea too. I do love coffee equally though. I grew up on tea and now do coffee more. The Orangery was lovely. Haha yes, he doesn’t like tea. He prefers Coke or Dr. Pepper, but they didn’t have those. Most places in London did have Coke though. Ahhh loved your blog post. I am so excited to see more on Kansas City.